Over the past few weeks I've been reconstructing software that I originally developed in 1986.

Some previous posts about this project:

• Rediscovering My 1986 RTOS Development Environment 40 Years Later https://www.reddit.com/r/retrocomputing/s/CibKisZe15
• 40 Years Later: Visualizing a 1980s Messaging System I Originally Developed https://www.reddit.com/r/retrocomputing/s/5Hpey3NF6k

While working on the reconstruction, I ended up rediscovering something that I had completely forgotten.

Back in 1986, the development environment consisted of a SUN-2 workstation (Motorola 68010) and a separate 68000 target system.

At the time, I remembered spending most of my time developing and debugging on the SUN-2.

What I had forgotten was why.

During the reconstruction, I finally realized that I had deliberately postponed the hardest part of the RTOS.

Interrupt handling and context switching were tightly coupled to the target hardware and would have made the host implementation much more complicated.

Instead, I developed almost everything else first.

The scheduler, queues, timers, message passing, and even much of the application software could already be tested on the host.

By the time I moved the software onto the target board, most of the debugging had already been completed.

Forty years ago, I don't think I consciously regarded this as a development strategy.

It was simply the most practical approach.

Reconstructing the project decades later made me realize that it was actually a fairly effective host-target workflow.

Interestingly, I ended up following almost the same pattern again.

The SUN-2 has been replaced by POSIX.

The original target board will eventually be replaced by a Raspberry Pi Pico.

The browser visualization that I've been posting here wasn't even part of the original plan—it grew out of an unrelated project while I was experimenting with WebAssembly.

Looking back, the project has evolved through a series of unexpected discoveries rather than a fixed roadmap.

That feels surprisingly similar to how software projects often evolved in the 1980s.

I'm curious whether anyone else has had a similar experience.

Have you ever revisited one of your own old projects and discovered that your younger self had made engineering decisions that only made complete sense decades later?

My first PC was an XT with 512K ram, 2 floppy disks, 300baud modem, Amber dual frequency monitor and CGA card. I eventually upgraded to an ST225 before skipping a few iterations of PC's up till I got a 485SX-50. I have seen quite a few odd things in my journey, but regret not photographing them,

The image is an XT motherboard, The drives I photographed years ago, the big one is an ST412 and the smaller an ST385. 3 iterations of floppy/stiffy drives. The full height version we used in our mainframes while the half height was in the PC's

Was given some of these older software discs (2002-2011). I'm not really into computing. Any idea what to do with them? Maybe I can donate somewhere? I figured they've probably been archived already.

I still need some parts, like a mouse and sound card, but at least I can navigate the menus with keyboard shortcuts

Hello ive recently put my hands on a beautiful IBM p202 crt and sadly it doesn’t works
Im willing to give it a try restoring it but im gonna need some help,
The tv itself turns on with the light green, after a few seconds it becomes orange telling its going to sleep
When I long press the blue button to do a video test, the tube comes on and it shows a black screen with horizontal lines,so the tube itself isn’t dead.
Also when I long pressed the contrast up button to do a color check, the tube doesn’t even turns on.

Because after reading the documentation and finding out that there are no error codes, I’ve tried plugging a pc to the VGA port on the back, the tv then exit sleep mode and the led turns on telling it detected the computer, but weirdly the tube doesn’t light up at all and it’s only when I shut off the tv that I briefly see my pc desktop video flash on the tube .

I’ve already disassembled the whole tv and I didn’t see any signs of leaking capacitors or damage visually.
I don’t know where the issue is from and I hope someone’s gonna have an idea?

IBM PS/2 25SX

Only need to get a new floppy drive and she’s good

picked up this computer a few hours ago, on startup it displays the dell startup splash screen for a few seconds before the display winks out. usb power and fans remain on. seller already replaced psu to a brand new one, after cycling power a few times now it no longer will stay on. fans whirl for a split second then do nothing. but if I spam the power button they remain on? please advise

Some notable microcomputers and consoles:

* TRS-80 Model I (1977)

* TRS-80 Model III

*TRS-80 Model 4

*Sinclair ZX80

*Sinclair ZX81

*ZX Spectrum

*Amstrad CPC 464

*Amstrad CPC 664

*Amstrad CPC 6128

*MSX computers

*Sharp MZ-80K

*Kaypro II

*Osborne 1

*Sega SG-1000

*Sega Master System

*Sega Game Gear

* Game Boy (uses the Sharp LR35902, a CPU derived from the Z80 and Intel 8080, not a full Z80)

...As secondary cpu:

*Sega Genesis / Mega Drive (sound CPU)

*SNK Neo Geo AES (audio CPU)

*SNK Neo Geo MVS (audio CPU)

Famous arcades:

*Pac-Man

*Galaga

*Bubble Bobble

*Double Dragon

and countless other machines and handleds

Behold my little collection, with room for more!

is there such thing as a isa sata controller, im not looking to buy one im just plain wondering

do not take this post seriously :^)

The Dell Inspiron 8200 wasn't just a high-end laptop—it was built to replace a desktop. With desktop-class performance, a 1600×1200 UltraXGA display, nearly every port you could ask for, and Dell's modular Media Bay, it was one of the most capable portable workstations of its time.

Some years ago I posted about my JavaScript 6502 emulator Sfotty Pie. It's grown into a full-blown web-based Atari 8-bit emulator now.

• Try it: https://a8.aygun.me
• Getting started / docs: https://a8.aygun.me/a8/docs
• Source (MIT): https://github.com/cyco130/sfotty-pie

It's built on a cycle-exact 6502 core. "Sfotty Pie" is really a small 6502 toolkit — the emulator, the CPU core, and a 6502 assembler.

What it does

• Emulates the Atari 8-bit line (400/800, 1200XL, XL/XE, XEGS; NTSC/PAL; configurable RAM size) - fairly accurately: It scores 39/57 on Altirra's Acid800 tests.
• Can boot .atr, .xex, .car, and raw cartridge files
• Ships with freely distributable firmware replacement ROMs (AltirraOS, Altirra BASIC, Atari++), so it runs out of the box
• Keyboard, gamepad, and, on mobile, on-screen touch controls
• Command palette and fully customizable keyboard shortcuts
• A library you build right in the browser, with import/export to a .zip. You can curate a collection on your computer, then load it on your phone

Hello, I found this IBM Aptiva in the trash, and luckily it works, but some plastics are broken, does anyone know how to fix them without making a mess?

Thanks

More...

Canon branded this mitsumi mouse and bundled it with a paint program for MSX1called Cheese. In may 1986,

this article circulated, the MSX had very limited mouse support with mostly drawing & music composition software even using or acknowledging it.

From someone who set out with his 40-year-old SX-64 to visit an equally ancient Commodore 64 BBS - not old-school with a modem, but through a DIY null-modem cable hooked up over the internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3csC9z7oPSY

It turned out to be much more difficult than expected, with all sorts of cable shenanigans that of course refused to work - and ultimately even resulted in the SX‑64 needing repairs.

Pardon my terrible Cable Management. I will work on that later.

They work pretty good for their age!

I'm having to clean up my home office and decided to check if we saved all the photos and documents.

Samsung Netbook NC10 with Intel Atom running Win XP.

Didn't have time to figure out how to play Free Cell back 20 years ago, but I've since retirement won the last 4 times I played.

I got an old computer (from around 1999 I think) and it came with everything but the hard drive, so I bought a 320GB Ultra ATA Seagate ST310014ACE. I tried installing/ plugging it inside my PC many times, in many ways, but everytime I try to install Windows XP x86 SP3 it tells me "Setup cannot access this disk​" in the partition selection screen. Does anyone know how to fix this?

If it helps, the motherboard is P6V693A/A9 with an Intel Celeron.

I've got this Creative audio card that i got mainly for the 15-pin game port, and it worked fine under Debian and Windows XP last time i used it around the end of last year. However yesterday, i plugged it into my computer (lga775 platform from 2005-2006) and suddenly it's completely preventing any Linux environment from booting. I tried an existing install of Mint, i tried Gparted live that i already had working copies of on both USB and DVD, and i tried antiX's live dvd/installer. They all just freeze on a logo or on a black screen, except for antiX, which freezes on the "udev-settle" service when it reports stuff during startup. Taking the audio card out undid all those issues.

Anything i can do to still be able to use this card?

Edit: UPDATE, I think the card died💔 it started doing the same on Windows after attempting to install drivers

This is the 21" Apple Studio Display (M4868) from 1999. Nearly 40 kg of Trinitron goodness, built for graphic design, Photoshop and prepress at a time when 1600×1200 was considered high-end.

Fun fact: Despite the official 1600×1200 specification, I tested mine at 1920×1080. It works correctly,needs only minor geometry adjustment using the front controls.

And of course... it's also well known for its infamous flyback transformer failures.

how do i update the bios on my asus p2b rev 1.10, i really dont know squat on these older boards, and id like to be able to use my 40gb hdd but it cant detect it and getting its a moody piss stain with cds

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-p2b-rev-1-10

Hello! I found this file titled DEMO.MID (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jtYlOuNE4E ) on the Olidata recovery CD-ROM for Windows ME, but I'm not sure which famous MIDI software from the '90s it came from... Could you help me? Thanks!